Judge rules FBI can’t abandon Biden-era plan to relocate headquarters to Maryland
Daftar Isi
Judge Rules FBI Can’t Abandon Maryland HQ Move
Earthguardiansonline.com – A federal judge rules the FBI can’t abandon its Biden-era plan to relocate headquarters to suburban Maryland, blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to redirect the move into the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC. The decision, issued Monday by Judge Theodore Chuang, sides with Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland, which filed suit in November to preserve the Greenbelt site originally selected in 2023.
The Legal Basis for the Ruling
Judge Chuang, appointed by former President Barack Obama, found that the FBI and the General Services Administration exceeded their statutory authority when they announced in July 2025 a plan to scrap the Greenbelt project and instead occupy the Reagan Building. The judge called the reprogramming of $555 million — including $323 million Congress had appropriated specifically for the Greenbelt construction — “arbitrary and capricious” and not in accordance with law.
“If the Reagan Building project moves forward, Plaintiffs will lose the opportunity to have the substantial economic benefits that would have a positive impact not just on individual private parties, but on the community in Prince George’s County,” Chuang wrote. “As for Defendants, they are still at the beginning stages of moving the FBI to the Reagan Building … so the immediate impact of an injunction of Defendants would be limited.”
The Greenbelt selection had been nearly 15 years in the making, the ruling noted. The Reagan Building, by contrast, previously housed the now-defunct US Agency for International Development and currently accommodates other agencies including US Customs and Border Protection. Chuang emphasized that because defendants were still at the earliest stages of any Reagan Building transition, an injunction would impose limited immediate disruption on the agencies.
Reactions and Political Fallout
A GSA spokesperson told CNN the judge was making a “political decision designed to undermine” the president, adding that GSA “will not pursue an inferior approach in cost, speed, and value” and will “ensure its agency partners, including the FBI, have workspaces to best accomplish their missions on behalf of the American people.” An FBI spokesperson called the ruling an impermissible intervention “for political reasons.” CNN reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore celebrated the outcome, saying, “President Trump tried to take from Maryland what Maryland had already won. He failed.” Moore urged officials to “stop the games and get to work building the world-class FBI headquarters that our public servants deserve, where it belongs: in Prince George’s County, Maryland.”
The Trump administration had argued in 2025 that the Greenbelt project “would have cost the taxpayers billions of dollars and taken years to construct.” FBI Director Kash Patel described the Reagan Building option as “the most cost effective and resource efficient way to carry out our mission to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution.” Trump himself vowed in a March 2025 speech at the Department of Justice to stop the headquarters from moving to “a liberal state,” declaring, “We’re going to stop it. Not going to let that happen.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Where was the FBI headquarters originally slated to move? The 2023 GSA selection identified a site in Greenbelt, Maryland, within Prince George’s County, as the destination for a new FBI headquarters building.
What is the current status of the FBI’s location? The FBI remains in the J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington, DC. The judge’s ruling preserves the Greenbelt plan and blocks the proposed move to the Reagan Building.
How much money is at stake in the dispute? Approximately $555 million was reprogrammed toward the Reagan Building option, of which $323 million had been appropriated by Congress specifically for the Greenbelt project.
Can the administration appeal the decision? The ruling was issued by a federal district court. The article does not confirm whether an appeal has been filed, though both agencies signaled disagreement with the outcome.
